News

"Maryland has prepared to join D.C., Delaware, and New Jersey in launching the Family and Medical Leave Insurance program [FAMLI], which promises to provide employees in the State with paid leave under certain circumstances. The FAMLI provides wage replacement to workers who need to take qualified leave for up to 12 weeks."

"[In] 2019, the federal government required first hospitals and then insurers to publish their negotiated prices.... [F]ederal price transparency rules specifically make state departments of insurance responsible for enforcing these rules against the insurers they regulate.... In this article, we examine state efforts to promote price transparency both before the enactment of federal price transparency rules as well as after it."

"The strategies available to employers who want to help employees with IVF treatment are similar to those that many considered after the Dobbs decision, including: [1] Travel benefits  ... [2] Leave of absence  ... [3] Embryo transport, storage, or destruction[.]"

"The city of Duluth, Minnesota, repealed its Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) ordinance effective Jan. 17, 2024.... Minnesota's statewide ESST statute went into effect on Jan. 1, 2024. The Duluth City Councilors ... stated that Minnesota's state-wide ESST law rendered the city's ordinance unnecessary. The ESST ordinances in Minneapolis and St. Paul remain in effect."

"The Paid Leave Ordinance implements two separate requirements: [1] that employees earn up to 40 hours of paid leave for any purpose, and [2] that employees earn up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per 12-month period.... The Paid Leave Ordinance applies to any employer with at least one employee, and to any employee who works at least 80 hours in Chicago during a 120-day period. Once an employee meets that threshold, they are deemed a 'covered employee' for the duration of their employment with that employer."

"San Francisco requires covered employers to make minimum healthcare expenditures on behalf of their San Francisco employees and to comply with certain requirements regarding the use of arrest and conviction records in hiring and other employment decisions. Covered employers must report each year on compliance with both of these requirements. The next report for 2023 is due by May 3."

"A bipartisan group of Alabama state senators has filed a bill that would give education employees 12 weeks of paid parental leave. If the bill is passed, educators could take parental leave in the event of the birth, adoption, miscarriage or stillbirth of a child.... Alabama currently does not offer teachers or state employees any paid parental leave."

"Pennsylvania amended its tax law to make amounts contributed to dependent care assistance excludable for income tax purposes. The change aligns Pennsylvania with the federal treatment and is retroactive for the 2023 tax year. Employers may have withheld taxes on dependent care assistance contributions and may have issued Forms W-2 that overstated income."

"The article introduces the proposed Equity for Surviving Spouses Act (ESSA) which would change that result prospectively by giving rights to surviving spouses of New York public employees that are similar to those that have been provided for many years to surviving spouses of retired federal employees, of private employees, and of employees most other states."

This article summarizes state and city retirement initiatives for private-sector workers and rounds up relevant resources. The latest updates cover a recently enacted state-run multiple-employer plan for small employers in Missouri and a new auto-enrollment IRA program in Washington state.

"The most significant change under the new law concerns leaves for baby bonding and for a serious health condition. Each type of leave will be covered exclusively by PLO (and, perhaps, the federal Family and Medical Leave Act).... After July 1, 2024, neither leave for baby bonding nor, with two exceptions, leave for a serious health condition is an OFLA-qualifying absence."

"The bill requires PBMs to report all rebates and to use pass-through pricing instead of spread pricing. HB 596 also requires network adequacy standards at or above Medicare, limits patient steering, prohibits use of arbitrary accreditation standards, and sets parameters for what can be considered a specialty drug. Additionally, it establishes reimbursement appeals processes."

"Discussion of state benefit and leave laws tends to focus on the state house, governor’s office and the relevant state insurance and labor departments. But do not overlook state and federal courthouses, where new laws are often weighed and measured to determine if they are valid. Currently, there are at least six cases to consider monitoring."

"The federal court ... ruled that this benefits cash equivalency requirement is inconsistent with -- and pre-empted by -- federal benefits law (ERISA).... As of March 11, 2024 -- the date of the federal court's injunction -- staffing agencies are no longer required to provide temporary workers with the hourly cash equivalent of benefits." [Staffing Servs. Ass'n. of Ill. v. Flanagan, No. 23-16208 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 11, 2024)]

"SB 6069 is among the bills the governor will sign into law on March 28.... The measure will require covered employers to allow employees an opportunity to contribute to an IRA through an automatic payroll deduction. The default contribution rate is to be not less than 3%, nor more than 7%, of wages."

"Mississippi issued a cease-and-desist order against BlackRock Inc. and its subsidiaries on [March 27] alleging widespread fraud in the marketing of the firm's investment funds that do not carry an ESG label. The order does not contain a specific monetary penalty but indicates it could result in a 'multimillion-dollar penalty' at a later point for violations of the Mississippi Securities Act."

"[E]mployers are required to provide eligible non-exempt employees who have or are suspected of having dengue fever the five-day special paid leave due to emergencies declared by the Government of Puerto Rico ... [To] be eligible for the special paid leave, covered employees who are sick -- or suspected of being sick -- as a result of an illness that triggers a state of emergency ... must first use any other available paid leave, including accrued sick leave."

"This new right will allow individuals to bypass the filing of an administrative complaint with the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection and, instead, file a lawsuit within two years from the date the person knew or should have known of the alleged violation."

"[This article delves] into the recent legislative updates across several states, highlighting the strides being made to bolster pension provisions."

"[In 2011,]the Employees' Retirement System of Rhode Island (ERSRI) ... changed from a defined benefit pension plan to a hybrid plan with a reduced pension component and mandatory participation in a 401(k)-style defined contribution plan.... Employee turnover has been consistently higher ... Higher turnover will result in fewer workers providing full careers in their communities ... These increased turnover trends not only dictate how much hiring public employers must undertake, but also the average and median level of experience of their workforce."

"SB 1515, which the governor is expected to sign, provides some relief to employers under the state's various leave laws by amending Paid Leave Oregon and the Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) to better align. [The bill] amends Oregon leave laws to mitigate employee leave stacking by eliminating some state leave law concurrency. [It] amends OFLA bereavement leave to a maximum of four weeks in a leave year."

"The 2023 Employer Annual Reporting Form, along with instructions and resources, will be available on the HCSO website March 26-May 3. It is important for covered employers to submit within this timeframe. The reporting form is completed and submitted online to the OLSE. There is no paper form."

"[An] employer that uses a 30:1 ratio for a part-time employee is in compliance with California's new PSL law, even if the employee does not earn 24 hours of PSL by the 120th day of employment/120th day of the year or 12-month period, or 40 hours of PSL by the 200th day."

14 presentation slides. Topics include: [1] Accrual, use and preemption of local laws; [2] Covered employees; [3] Denying a request to use paid leave under PLAWA; [4] Payout, reinstatement, transfer; [5] Employer policies; [6] Other employer responsibilities.

"The court held that the Act conflicted with ERISA by requiring agencies to make judgment calls about eligibility and benefit levels on an individualized and continual basis.... [T]he court did not enjoin, nor did plaintiffs seek to enjoin, provisions of the amendments providing for equal pay to temporary laborers who work for more than 90 days in a 12-month period for the same third-party client." [Staffing Servs. Ass'n. of Ill. v. Flanagan, No. 23-16208 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 11, 2024)]